Post by @scott@mastodon.clitheroe.ca
NetBSD sea trials day 1 - learned how to install NetBSD to a RAID-1 raidframe array following this guide: https://wiki.netbsd.org/tutorials/how_to_install_netbsd_on_raid1_using_raidframe/
Setting up the partitions themselves can be done in the extended partitioning menu in sysinst, but I _think_ you would still need to mark the partitions active, and also run installboot from that guide manually, so it's just as easy to do it all at the command line ahead of time - that cost me a few attempts before the guide.
Regardless, it works :)
1 boost
@scott@mastodon.clitheroe.ca
I’m only familiar with the BSDs in passing. If I may ask, what is the impetus in switching?
@fname It's a lot of things, but if I had to summarize it in a single sentence, it would be a growing recognition that technical sovereignty is important to me.
Things that have triggered this journey (semi-chronologically):
- the arbitrary and unsolicited removal of AX.25 support from the Linux kernel
- Gnome moving to increased dependencies on systemd
- Gnome developing an immutable OS
- LLM code in the kernel
- LLM code in Debian
@fname Basically, a growing sense that Linux is moving in directions that don't interest me that much (at home; at work it clearly pays the bills), and that are not oriented towards a hobbiest tinkering and playing around on the trailing edges of modern hardware.
NetBSD is smaller, LLM rejecting, portable, and tracks in a straighter line to the origins of Unix. The BSD community seems good so far. It feels more knowable and sustainable.
@fname How are you liking littlefedi, btw? It's another example of the retreat and retrenchment from big Linux software that is exactly the sort of appeal that NetBSD holds for me.
@scott@mastodon.clitheroe.ca
I kinda figured that might be your reasons for migrating to BSD. I may end up going that route also, for the same reasons. The holdback is I only *just* developed a moderate level of competency with Linux/Debian and I’m reticent to have to re-learn a bunch of stuff.
LittleFedi is pretty impressive. Very feature-rich and polished. If you want to test drive an account let me know and I’ll shoot you an invite.
@fname I'll spin up my own instance on NetBSD, and we can federate :)
You will never regret learning more, but I get exactly what you are saying. My approach, consistently, has been to evaluate my personal tech choices on a timeline that is respectful to how much free time and how much work I can sink into things, and a recognition that it has to be able to do the things I need the computer to do (fortunately, I'm not a very demanding user)
@fname Playing with NetBSD in a VM is a great first step. You can turn it off and put it up on the shelf when you're done, and pull it out the next time you're bored or there's a snowstorm or something :)
NetBSD sea trials day 2 - currently doing work to free up my secondary machine for a bare metal NetBSD install now that a root-on-RAID config is understood (and documented in my wiki). This mostly consists of migrating a couple VMs back over to my primary machine, writing out a NetBSD USB stick image, and I ordered a cheap KVM as a quality of life item (the second machine ran headless)
Also tried running sysupgrade in the NetBSD sea trial VM
While I'm waiting for stuff to shuffle around and also get another backup cycle in, I'm reading up on the overlap and interaction between pkgin (binary package manager) and using pkgsrc to build and install software in the pkgsrc tree.
I'm leaning towards using pkgsrc as primary, because ultimately, I'd like to actively support NetBSD packages in the amateur radio space - there's no linbpq, nor xastir package, and those are things I could try and contribute as an example.
re: pkgsrc, the idea of building everything is appealing, but also maybe daunting; I wonder how long building firefox would take.
This machine will have a 1 TB root disk, so I should have plenty of space for pkgsrc to do its thing, and I'm in no rush, so we'll see!
@scott my 11th gen i5 on laptop builds Firefox in half an hour or so, with most deps pre-installed - as a point of reference
@scott
It depends mostly on how fast your disk is and how much memory do you have. Sorry, linux-user here, but making 24GB /var/tmp/portage in memory (a place where all the compilation actually happens on my Gentoo linux) helps a lot! And a side-effect is that the compilation doesn't wear out your ssd (I assume).
VMs moved, fresh local and offsite backup cycle run, secondary machine idled, and the KVM I ordered arrived while I was out for a run.
After a slice of apple pie, I think it's go time.
Reclamation day is at hand!